


We Could Have (and I Should Have)

by raendown



Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [72]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, F/M, Post-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-30 06:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21423946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Sakura bumps in to someone unexpected while making a coffee run.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Senju Tobirama
Series: NaNoWriMo 2020 Drabbles [72]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533161
Comments: 12
Kudos: 71





	We Could Have (and I Should Have)

Sakura was pulling her scarf a little tighter and trying not to spill the coffee she’d just picked up from her new favorite café when she nearly walked in to another body on the street. Only with a quick jerk of her head did she avoid getting a rather sharp looking tie pin in the eye, both her and the other person stumbling away from each other in that awkward almost dance.

“My apologies,” an achingly familiar voice said. “I didn’t see you ther- oh. Sakura.”

When she looked up deep red eyes were looking back down at her and she felt the battered heart in her chest thump painfully with recognition. He looked just the same, right down to the same old haircut.

“Tobirama,” she greeted him softly.

“Sorry about that.” His voice was equally quiet, if a little more distant.

“I…how have you been?”

He stared at her in silence for a few moments and Sakura wondered if the deep yearning she’d never entirely gotten rid of was that obvious in her voice. Surely it must have shown on her face in some way, that endless wanting, the pain of a separation that she herself had caused. Waiting for him to speak again was sweet agony but her reward was in the soft syrup of his voice after he finally took a deep breath and answered politely.

“Very well. Our company has finally begun the expansions they’ve been talking about for years, we’re all quite busy trying to keep up with everything.” He looked fairly well-rested for being so busy, unusual for him. It made her wonder whether his brother had been getting on his case again about taking better care of himself or if the man had finally learned to just relax a little. “And yourself?”

“Oh I’m alright I suppose. New job; I’m working down on Fifth Street now, that new clinic that just opened up. We’ve been going through nurses like hotcakes trying to find some that can take the pressure.” Sakura snorted with derision and was thrilled to see him imitate the gesture.

Scoffing at the poor work ethics of other people had been one of the first things they bonded over. They had spent almost their entire first date trading stories about terrible coworkers, laughing in to their wine until the food went cold and they were holding hands under the table. Now they stood with several feet of space between them and it felt like a chasm that Sakura wished she could cross with all her heart. It felt wrong to stand so far away when all she wanted was to fall in to his arms again, to take back everything that had gone wrong between them, all the words she knew she never should have said.

Watching him dig through his pockets suddenly to pull out a vibrating phone, Sakura asked herself when she had become a coward. She’d spent the last year regretting her actions and wishing for a second chance so why the hell had she never bothered to call him up and ask for one? Tobirama had always been a reasonable man. If she offered sincere apologies and proved to him that she had changed it was very possible that he would listen. And she wouldn’t know unless she tried.

As she opened her mouth to do just that he pulled off one of his gloves so he could unlock his phone screen and read whatever message he’d just received. One look was all she needed to snap her jaw shut and swallow down the waves of agony rushing through her chest.

“Nice ring,” she managed to choke out after he finished replying to his text. Tobirama looked down at his left hand with a gentle smile playing on his lips, blissfully ignorant of how it shattered everything left inside of her.

“Yes, my fiancé has excellent taste,” he murmured.

“Do I know them?”

From the way his eyes lifted to hers, slowly filling up with pity, Sakura knew that he had seen right through her attempts to hide the pain.

“You do know him,” he admitted, “but I don’t know that we should talk about this anymore. I should go.”

“Wait! I…I’m sorry. About everything.” Sakura tried to beg with her eyes, to say everything she would never have another chance to say now, but her ex-lover only shook his head and took a small step back.

“Goodbye Sakura. Be well.”

And with that he was gone, turning to walk out of her life like she had once walked out of his. Her heart went with him. Sakura watched the love of her life fade in to the crowds filling the busy sidewalk and the last she saw of him was the shine of a beautiful silver ring much too similar to the one he’d tried to give her so long ago. It wasn’t until he was out of sight completely that it truly hit home all the things she had let slip through her fingers that night. Sakura dropped her eyes to the cooling cup of coffee in her hand, unsurprised by the blurring of her vision as tears began to form, and she knew that she would spend the rest of her life mourning the loss of what could have been.


End file.
